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JESSE  APPLEGATE 

Pioneer  and  State  Builder 

■;  , 'S  ';  ; 

By 


JOSEPH  SCHAFER,  Ph.  D., 

Head  of  the  Department  of  History 
University  of  Oregon 


Published  monthly  by  the  University  of  Oregon,  and  entered  at  the  post-office  in 
Eugene,  Oregon,  ns  second-class  matter 


JESSE  APPLEGATE 

Pioneer  and  State  Builder 


By 


JOSEPH  SCHAFER,  Ph.  D., 

Head  of  the  Department  of  History 
University  of  Oregon 


“Often  I have  found  a portrait  superior  in  real  instruc- 
tion to  half  a dozen  written  ‘biographies’  as  biographies 
are  written;  or,  rather,  let  me  say,  I have  found  that  the 
portrait  was  as  a small  lighted  candle  by  which  the 
biographies  could  for  the  first  time  be  read  and  some  human 
interpretation  be  made  of  them.” — Carlyle. 


c 

0v3v>-^ 

\sV.s 


JESSE  APPLEGATE 

After  a unique  sketch  drawn  from  memory  by  Mr.  George  Applegate. 
The  original  is  in  the  possession  of  Joseph  Schafer  at  the  University 
of  Oregon,  Eugene,  Oregon. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/jesseapplegatepiOOscha 


JESSE  APPLEGATE 

Pioneer  and  State  Builder  * 

Jesse  Applegate  could  claim  pioneership  by  the  three-fold  title  of 
inheritance,  training,  and  lifelong  habit.  His  father,  Daniel  Applegate, 
of  English  lineage,  was  reared  in  New  Jersey.  He  entered  the  Revolu- 
tionary army  as  a fifer  at  fifteen,  and  when  the  war  closed,  emigrated 
to  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky.  There  he  married  Rachel  Lindsey,  of 
a distinguished  pioneer  family,  and  settled  on  a farm.  Forty  years 
later,  caught  up  once  more  in  the  resistless  “westward  movement,”  he 
was  carried  over  into  the  new  state  of  Missouri,  accompanied  now  by  a 
large  family.  Jesse  was  the  youngest  child  of  Daniel  and  Rachel  Apple- 
gate.  He  was  born  on  the  fifth  of  July,  1811,  and  was  a lad  of  twelve 
years  when  the  family  moved  to  Missouri. 

While  Kentucky  was  no  longer  strictly  a “hunter’s  paradise,”  as  in 
the  days  of  Boone  and  Kenton,  pioneer  conditions  had  by  no  means 
disappeared  when  the  Applegates  took  up  the  line  of  march  to  a newer 
frontier.  Yet  the  boy  had  acquired  in  his  early  home  a good  elementary 
education,  so  that  on  going  to  Missouri  he  was  able,  within  a year  or 
so,  to  fit  himself  for  the  work  of  a village  school  master.  But  this  was 
a temporary  occupation,  for  he  soon  found  more  congenial  employment 
in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  where  he  remained  till  1831. 

The  “personality”  of  St.  Louis,  during  this  period  of  her  history, 
presents  a strange  jumble  of  more  or  less  contradictory  elements. 
Eastern  culture  was  represented  to  some  degree  in  commercial  circles, 
and  more  largely  among  the  professional  classes,  while  the  convergence 
at  that  point  of  several  great  lines  of  wilderness  activity  brought  promin- 
ently into  the  foreground  picturesque  Rocky  Mountain  traders  with  a 
motley  crowd  of  dependants,  the  explorers  of  the  farther  west,  and  the 
military  guardians  of  an  exposed  frontier.  These  elements  blended  at  a 
few  points  but  in  the  main  they  stood  apart,  or  jostled  roughly  in  street, 
mart,  and  public  hall. 

Into  this  environment  young  Applegate  came  with  a mind  dilated 
to  its  most  divergent  influences.  No  phase  of  life,  rude  or  refined,  was 
to  him  indifferent.  The  profane,  but  original  and  strenuous  observations 
of  the  well  seasoned  “river-man,”  and  the  learned  disquisitions  of  St. 
Louis’  greatest  lawyer,  alike  interested  him;  he  sought  information  from 
men  of  classical  training,  and  in  libraries  crowded  with  the  works  of 
great  minds,  but  did  not  fail  to  go,  also,  to  the  humble  and  the  rude 
fellow  who  had  had  some  unique  experience  or  could  furnish  a desired 
fact. 

Applegate’s  strong  pioneering  bent  is  shown  by  the  efforts  he  made, 
while  at  St.  Louis,  to  gather  information  of  every  sort  about  the  great 
western  region  embracing  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific  slope. 
Whatever  he  could  find  in  print  he  read,  but  that  was  very  little;  the 
most  important  single  item  was  the  journal  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  pub- 
lished in  1814.  But  better  than  the  written  record  of  their  wonderful 
journey  was  a personal  meeting  he  had,  about  1825,  with  Captain  Clark 
himself,  then  a white  haired  veteran  who  inspired  him,  as  he  long 
afterward  confessed,  with  a genuine  enthusiasm  for  pioneering. 


*An  address  delivered  before  the  Oregon  Historical  Society,  at  the  City  Hall, 
Portland,  Oregon,  December  16,  1911.  The  address  in  nearly  the  present  form, 
was  delivered  at  Astoria,  Oregon,  in  August,  1911,  before  the  assembled  teachers 
of  Clatsop  and  Columbia  counties. 


5 


Three  years  later,  while  clerking  in  the  surveyor-general’s  office, 
Applegate  gained  the  intimate  friendship  of  Wilson  Price  Hunt,  then 
post-master  at  St.  Louis.  Mr.  Hunt  will  be  remembered  by  all  readers 
of  Irving  as  Astor’s  agent  in  the  dramatic  commercial  enterprise  on 
which  he  sent  the  ship  Tonquin  to  the  Columbia  in  1811.  He  was  the 
founder  of  Astoria,  and,  in  a certain  sense,  of  the  trans-Rocky  Mountain 
trade  for  which  that  fort  was  the  earliest  emporium.  Hunt  talked 
freely  about  these  romantic  episodes  of  his  younger  days,  stimulated 
no  doubt  by  the  eager  inquisitiveness  of  his  youthful  friend.  In  this 
manner  Applegate  secured,  from  the  highest  living  authority  a graphic 
account  of  the  first  occupation  of  the  Columbia,  and  this  many  years 
before  the  publication  of  Irving’s  Astoria. 

Mr.  Hunt’s  trading  habit  had  not  yet  worn  off;  he  continued  to  deal 
in  furs,  using  the  basement  of  the  post-office  as  a warehouse.  “When- 
ever I saw  the  old  gentleman  in  his  shop,”  wrote  Applegate,  fifty  years 
later,  “I  took  the  occasion  to  take  a lesson  in  natural  history,  not  only 
about  the  wearers  of  the  skins,  but  in  what  part  of  the  earth  the  living 
animal  was  to  be  found.” 

Applegate  boarded  at  the  old  Green  Tree  Tavern,  an  unpretentious 
hostelry  which  commonly  served  as  the  winter  rendezvous  of  the  Rocky 
Mountain  Fur  Company.  There  the  partners,  Jedediah  Smith,  David 
Jackson  and  Wm.  L.  Sublette  would  meet,  in  their  leisure  time,  to  settle 
the  season’s  accounts  and  plan  the  operations  of  the  following  year. 
Each  of  the  three  had  spent  many  years  in  the  heart  of  the  Rockies. 
They  knew  to  a nicety  the  resources  of  furs  represented  by  the  moun- 
tain streams;  they  were  familiar  with  the  native  tribes  of  the  region, 
with  its  geography,  and,  in  a crude  way,  its  natural  history.  Besides, 
the  vast  spaces  beyond  the  Rockies  were  to  them  by  no  means  a sealed 
book.  Jedediah  Smith  had  explored  for  his  company  an  overland  route 
from  Salt  Lake  to  Southern  California;  he  had  traversed  the  entire 
length  of  that  then  mysterious  Mexican  province,  had  forced  a way 
northward  to  Fort  Vancouver  on  the  Columbia,  where  he  spent  the 
winter  of  1828-29  as  the  guest  of  Doctor  John  McLoughlin,  and  had 
made  himself  conversant  with  the  fur  trade  as  conducted  by  the  Hudson’s 
Bay  Company  in  Oregon  under  McLoughlin’s  skillful  supervision.  He 
therefore  brought  to  St.  Louis,  when  he  next  met  his  partners  at  the 
Green  Tree  Tavern,  the  freshest  and  most  complete  report  obtainable 
on  conditions  all  along  the  coast,  from  San  Diego  to  Vancouver  and 
inland  from  the  Rio  Colorado  to  Couer  d’Alene  Lake.  And  what  tales 
he  could  tell  of  daring  and  dangerous  exploits  in  the  wilderness — of  his 
hair  breadth  escape  from  the  Mojave  Indians,  his  brush  with  some 
Mexican  officials  in  California,  the  massacre  of  his  party  and  plunder- 
ing of  his  furs  and  goods  by  the  savages  on  the  Umpqua.  These,  and 
many  other  incidents  of  his  adventurous  journeys,  must  have  made  the 
meeting  at  the  Green  Tree  Tavern  in  the  winter  of  1829-30  an  event 
memorable  even  in  the  annals  of  the  far  west  fur  trade.  Little  wonder 
that  a high  spirited,  adventurous  youth  like  Applegate  should  improve 
the  opportunity  of  a fellow  guest  to  ingratiate  himself  with  these  men 
in  order  to  lose  no  item  of  their  exciting  discourse.  “I  was  then  handy 
with  the  pen,”  he  writes,  “and  handier  still  with  figures,  and  volunteered 
my  services  to  these  mountain  heroes,  my  sole  reward  being  to  hear 
them  recount  their  adventures.” 

Almost  these  veterans  of  the  inland  trade,  with  its  glamour  of 
romance  and  allurement  of  riches,  had  won  in  Applegate  a convert  to 
their  wild,  irregular  mode  of  life.  But  the  appeal  of  his  kind,  wise 
master,  Colonel  McKee,  was  even  stronger  than  theirs,  and  our  young 
pioneer  was  saved  for  other  pioneering  labors  that  should  yield  nobler 
fruits  to  society  if  smaller  gains  to  himself. 

This  Colonel  McKee  appears  to  have  been  a large  factor  in  Jesse 
Applegate’s  intellectual  training,  a process  that  was  going  forward 

6 


simultaneously  with  his  preparation  for  the  higher  forms  of  pioneering. 
He  is  described  by  Applegate  as  a man  of  “vast  and  varied  information’’ 
and  of  a fatherly  disposition.  Having  the  young  man  constantly  at  his 
elbow,  in  the  office  during  the  day  and  the  private  study  evenings,  and 
talking  incessantly  and  well  upon  all  manner  of  subjects,  the  effect  was 
to  impart  to  him  the  semblance  of  a liberal  education. 

Another  man  who,  during  the  St.  Louis  period,  exerted  a profound 
influence  on  Applegate’s  mind,  was  the  distinguished  lawyer,  Edward 
Bates,  later  a member  of  Lincoln’s  first  cabinet.  Edward  Bates  was 
a Virginia  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  with  all  the  dignity  and  aplomb, 
the  culture,  the  delicate  sense  of  honor  that  the  phrase  implies.  He  was 
not  only  a great  lawyer,  but  a student  of  social  problems  as  well,  with 
positive  views  on  government  and  an  active  interest  in  public  affairs. 
Politically  he  was  an  extreme  conservative,  reflecting  to  the  end  of  his 
career,  the  federalistic  tendencies  of  Washington’s  time.  Thanks,  prob- 
ably, to  his  Quaker  connection  he  was  a pronounced  opponent  of  slavery. 
We  do  not  know  the  precise  relationship  subsisting  between  them,  but 
we  know  that  Bates  was  always  revered  by  Applegate  as  benefactor 
and  friend.  There  is  a tradition  that  he  assisted  the  boy  to  improve 
his  education,  also  that  he  took  him  into  his  office  for  a time  as  clerk; 
at  all  events,  the  association  between  them  was  exceedingly  close,  and 
left  an  abiding  record  in  the  character  of  the  younger  man.  It  seems 
to  me  that  this  association  helps  to  explain  Applegate’s  clear,  strong 
views  on  government,  as  he  afterward  impressed  them,  through  numer- 
ous channels,  upon  the  Oregon  people;  it  may  have  contributed  to 
develop  in  him  the  passion  for  order,  and  the  punctilious  regard  he  ever 
showed  for  forms  and  precedents  in  legislative  matters.  His  militant 
nationalism  and  his  abhorrence  of  slavery  are  explicable  on  other 
grounds,  but  to  both  traits  the  great  lawyer’s  influence  lent  positive 
support. 

Bates  and  Applegate,  while  differing  much  in  mental  gifts — the 
younger  man  being  more  brilliant  and  original  than  the  elder — were 
so  congenial  that  the  friendship  formed  in  this  unequal  manner  grew 
stronger  with  the  passing  years  and  endured  through  life.  It  is  said 
that  even  while  under  the  enormous  strain  of  his  cabinet  duties,  during 
the  war,  Bates  yearly  wrote  one  or  more  long  letters  to  Applegate,  and 
those  familiar  with  the  latter’s  epistolary  habit  are  well  convinced  that 
no  letter  failed  of  a response.  This  was  one  of  the  ways  in  which  the 
“rancher”  of  the  Oregon  frontier  kept  himself  in  touch  with  national 
politics. 

The  St.  Louis  period,  extending  from  about  1825  to  1831,  or  from 
his1  fourteenth  to  his  twentieth  year,  is  manifestly  the  time  in  which 
young  Applegate  was  being  specially  schooled  for  his  later  career.  It 
was  then  that  his  youthful  fancy,  rioting  in  tales  of  far  west  adventure, 
began  to  form  those  bold  designs  of  pioneering  that  foreshadow  the  dis- 
tinctive work  of  his  life.  And  it  was  during  the  same  period  that  he 
laid  the  foundations  for  a broad  and  accurate  though  general  knowledge 
of  literature,  history,  and  science  which  marked  him  out  later  as  one 
of  the  best  read  men  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  gained,  also,  some  familiar- 
ity with  Latin,  became  highly  proficient  in  a limited  range  of  mathe- 
matical subjects,  and  in  some  way  developed  a literary  style  which  was 
singularly  pure  and  graceful  as  well  as  verile  and  dignified.  He 
acquired  in  addition  at  least  the  fundamentals  of  both  law  and  engineer- 
ing, each  of  which  proved  of  distinct  service  to  the  new  community  he 
was  to  help  build  beyond  the  mountains. 

Applegate’s  proficiency  as  a surveyor  obtained  for  him,  at  the  age 
of  about  nineteen,  a deputyship  in  the  office  of  surveyor-general.  There- 
after much  of  his  time  was  spent  in  field  work,  especially  in  the  south- 
western portion  of  the  state.  Marrying  in  the  spring  of  1831,  he  bought 


7 


a fine  tract  of  land  in  the  Osage  Valley  and  made  his  home  there  as 
a farmer  and  stock  raiser  for  twelve  years,  but  he  continued  to  act  as 
deputy-surveyor  also  during  the  greater  part  if  not  the  whole  of  that 
time.  In  1843  he  carried  his  trusty  compass  to  the  western  shore  of 
the  continent  and  at  once  resumed  its  use  in  a significant  service  cover- 
ing almost  forty  years. 

The  interest  in  Oregon  had  widened  and  intensified  since  Applegate 
first  met  the  mountain  traders  at  the  Green  Tree  Tavern,  and  sources 
of  information  about  the  country  had  multiplied.  Oregon  was  no  longer, 
as  it  once  had  been,  the  object  of  desire  to  exploiters  of  furs  only,  but 
was  coming  to  be  regarded  as  a practicable  field  of  operations  for  agri- 
cultural pioneers.  The  forerunners  of  that  class,  like  the  “long  hunters” 
of  Kentucky  seventy-five  years  earlier,  had  reported  the  land  both 
“pleasant  and  goodly.”  It  was  far  away  and  difficult  of  access,  but 
still,  to  men  of  their  stamp,  not  unattainable.  Several  American  mis- 
sionaries, both  men  and  women,  had  gone  to  Oregon  overland  in  the 
previous  decade,  and  continued  to  reside  there,  sustained  by  the  friendly 
support  of  the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company.  The  mission  stations  were 
gradually  assuming  the  appearance  of  settlements,  especially  in  the 
Willamette  Valley,  whose  soil  and  climate,  and  flattering  commercial 
outlook  had  attracted  a small  group  of  American  adventurers,  and  where 
the  discharged  operatives  of  the  fur  company  were  beginning  to  make 
homes.  Irving,  Parker,  and  Wyeth  had  written  books  about  Oregon, 
and  many  letters,  from  missionaries  and  others  living  beyond  the  moun- 
tains, were  finding  their  way  into  the  public  prints.  Congress  discussed 
plans  to  promote  the  settlement  of  the  country,  spreading  far  and  wide 
printed  reports  embodying  information  about  it;  the  department  of 
state  was  trying  to  terminate  the  Oregon  dispute  with  Great  Britain, 
and  the  war  department  moved  for  the  exploration  of  a road  to  the 
Columbia  in  order  to  facilitate  emigration  thither;  something  had  already 
been  done  to  establish  proper  relations  with  the  Oregon  tribes  of  Indians 
through  the  sending  of  an  Indian  sub-agent  in  1842. 

The  government,  however,  was  in  general  too  slow  for  the  pioneers. 
Before  congress  could  pass  a law  to  encourage  settlers,  before  Webster 
and  his  successors  in  office  could  negotiate  a treaty,  before  the  war 
secretaries  could  accomplish  the  design  of  opening  a road,  the  frontiers- 
men themselves,  under  leaders  of  their  own  choosing  and  hence  of  their 
own  type,  had  rendered  the  contemplated  governmental  action  if  not 
superfluous  at  least  less  urgent.  They  had  opened  a road  all  the  way 
to  the  Columbia,  had  occupied,  in  an  orderly  manner,  for  agricultural 
purposes,  much  of  the  best  land  in  Western  Oregon,  and  without  charter, 
law,  or  other  authorization  beyond  the  treaty  of  joint-occupation  which 
merely  gave  them  a right  to  be  in  the  country,  they  had  organized  on 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific  a true  American  government,  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  that  portion  of  the  world. 

In  all  of  the  momentous  activities  here  outlined,  Jesse  Applegate 
was  a prime  leader.  He,  like  many  others  of  his  time  and  section,  had 
become  discouraged  at  the  long  duration  of  the  “hard  times,”  which 
pressed  heavily  upon  those  frontier  settlers  living  away  from  navigable 
streams,  then  almost  the  sole  means  of  transportation  for  the  country 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  Besides,  the  progress  of  slavery  was  rapid  in 
Missouri.  Applegate,  who  would  not  own  negroes,  was  forced  to  hire 
their  labor  from  neighboring  owners  in  order  to  be  able  to  cultivate  his 
fields.  He  felt  keenly  the  social  as  well  as  the  economic  evils  of  the 
slave  system,  and  was  constrained  to  remove  his  young  family  beyond 
its  influence.  He  had  kept  up  with  the  new  information  regarding  Ore- 
gon, and  was  in  personal  correspondence  with  a friend  who  lived  there. 
Applegate  had  long  known,  what  others  were  just  learning,  that  Western 
Oregon  was  a paradise  for  the  stock  raiser.  So,  after  mature  delibera- 

8 


tion,  he  decided  to  transfer  his  Osage  Valley  herd,  which  was  all  but 
valueless  from  the  prevailing  depression,  to  the  virgin  meadows  of  the 
Willamette,  two  thousand  miles  away. 

The  story  of  the  great  immigration  to  Oregon  in  1843  has  been  fre- 
quently told,  sometimes  with  embellishments  that  sadly  mar  the  truth 
of  history.  It  should  be  remarked  that  the  movement  was  a perfectly 
natural  expression  of  the  pioneering  genius  of  our  people,  and  not,  as 
often  misrepresented,  an  outburst  of  Quixotic  patriotism.  The  emigrat- 
ing company  of  nearly  one  thousand  persons  was  recruited  by  no  one 
man;  it  gathered  almost  spontaneously,  in  response  to  feelings  and 
motives  that  were  widespread  along  the  border,  and  that  came  to  fruition 
in  a variety  of  ways — sometimes  through  public  discussion,  oftener  in 
the  neighborly  chat  or  the  fireside  conference.  Personal  influence  was 
felt  in  this  as  in  every  large  human  event.  Emigrating  parties  were 
organized  in  different  localities,  and  the  accession  anywhere  of  an  able 
or  a prominent  man  was  the  signal  for  others  less  independent  to  give 
in  their  names.  The  decision  of  Jesse  Applegate  to  go  to  Oregon  prob- 
ably caused  a number  of  others  in  St.  Clair  County,  Missouri,  to  do 
likewise,  among  them  his  two  elder  brothers,  Charles  and  Lindsey. 

The  several  companies  from  Missouri  and  other  western  states  met 
near  Independence,  Missouri,  in  April,  1843,  prepared  for  the  long  over- 
land march.  Applegate’s  outfit  is  said  to  have  consisted  of  about  one 
hundred  head  of  livestock,  and  four  wagons,  “loaded  * * with  flour, 
bacon,  and  such  fruits  and  vegetables  as  were  fit  for  transportation; 
tools  of  all  kinds;  household  goods  and  wearing  apparel;  a few  valuable 
books,  among  them  the  school  books  of  his  children,  some  historical 
works,  a Worcester’s  dictionary,  a copy  of  Shakespeare,  the  Bible  he  had 
carried  on  his  surveying  trips,  his  mathematical  works,  * *”  The 
emigrants  organized  for  the  journey  with  Peter  H.  Burnett  as  captain, 
intending  at  first  to  travel  as  a single  great  company.  But  at  the 
Kansas  River  trouble  arose  over  the  question  of  caring  for  the  loose 
stock,  those  having  no  cattle  objecting  with  some  justice  to  the  per- 
formance of  guard  duty.  Burnett  now  resigned  and  a reorganization 
took  place,  those  without  the  incumbrance  of  cattle  forming  the  light 
column,  the  others  the  so-called  “cow-column.”  Of  the  latter  company 
Jesse  Applegate  was  chosen  captain. 

It  is  a trite  but  true  remark  among  far  west  pioneers  that  no  severer 
test  of  a man’s  fitness  for  leadership  was  ever  devised  than  the  captaincy 
of  an  Oregon  or  California  emigrating  company;  and  it  is  the  universal 
testimony  of  the  1843  immigrants  that  Applegate  more  than  met  the 
requirements  of  this  exacting  office.  By  his  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
difficulties  to  be  encountered,  his  resourcefulness  in  overcoming  them, 
his  tact  and  courage,  his  commanding  personality,  and  withal  the  kind, 
helpful  spirit  he  always  manifested,  he  not  only  held  the  uniform  respect 
of  all  these  staunch  frontiersmen  but  won  their  loyal  affection.  His 
charming  essay,  “A  Day  with  the  Cow  Column,”  descriptive  of  the  move- 
ment of  his  company  across  the  plains,  is  a classic  in  the  literature  of 
western  adventure. 

From  Fort  Hall  westward,  the  region  through  which  a road  had  yet 
to  be  found,  Applegate  is  said  to  have  been  in  advance,  with  his  com- 
pass, to  determine  at  critical  points  the  route  to  be  taken.  In  this  he 
was  greatly  aided  by  Doctor  Marcus  Whitman,  whose  general  knowledge 
of  the  country  enabled  him  to  make  valuable  suggestions.  While  the 
company  was  descending  the  Columbia  with  rafts,  from  Fort  Walla 
Walla,  an  accident  occurred  by  which  three  persons  were  drowned;  one 
of  them  was  Jesse  Applegate’s  eldest  son,  a bright  studious  boy  of 
eleven  summers,  named,  for  his  friend  and  patron,  Edward  Bates. 


9 


Applegate  selected  a piece  of  land  within  the  present  limits  of  Polk 
County,  where  he  remained  till  the  year  1849.  He  followed  farming  to 
some  extent,  raised  a fine  herd  of  cattle,  built  a small  grist  mill,  and 
worked  much  at  his  profession  of  surveying,  laying  off  the  settler’s 
claims,  marking  out  roads,  etc.  The  legislature  of  1844  appointed  him 
surveyor-general  of  the  colony,  with  the  special  duty  of  investigating 
certain  canal  projects.  He  was  a man  of  great  activity,  industry,  and 
skill,  accomplishing  with  apparent  ease  seemingly  difficult  undertakings, 
and  with  the  disposition  to  multiply  interests  in  such  a way  as  to  keep 
himself  more  than  fully  occupied.  There  was  no  busier  man  in  the 
little  colony. 

Applegate  often  averred  that  he  had  in  this  period  no  time  for 
politics,  the  care  of  a growing  and  still  helpless  family  absorbing  all 
his  energies.  But  his  sense  of  duty  impelled  him,  in  the  summer  of 
1845,  to  devote  not  only  his  time  but  his  best  talents  to  the  public  ser- 
vice in  the  hope  of  improving  the  political  condition  of  the  people. 

Government  in  Oregon  had  thus  far  been  in  process  of  painful  evolu- 
tion. The  Hudson’s  Bay  Company’s  officers  had  exercised  a civil  juris- 
diction adequate  to  the  needs  of  an  unsettled  country  harboring  a few 
traders.  But  when  Americans  began  to  collect  in  numbers  around  the 
Methodist  mission  a demand  soon  arose  for  some  sort  of  American  gov- 
ernment. Inasmuch  as  the  United  States  was  merely  a claimant  to  the 
country,  not  its  sovereign,  congress  felt  unable  to  afford  relief  but  left 
the  people  of  Oregon  to  create  for  themselves  such  political  institutions 
as  were  deemed  necessary. 

A preliminary  step  was  taken  in  1841,  when,  to  meet  a sudden  emer- 
gency a probate  judge  was  elected  by  the  people.  This  seemed  at  the 
time  to  be  all  the  “government”  needed.  The  first  formal  organization, 
in  May,  1843,  was  probably  premature.  For  practically  one-half  of  the 
settlers  voted  it  to  be  unnecessary,  and  the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company 
were  prepared,  for  national  reasons,  to  place  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
its  successful  working  which  there  was  not  strength  enough  in  the 
American  portion  of  the  community  to  overcome. 

The  organization  itself  was  faulty.  There  was  a body  of  “organic 
laws,”  somewhat  loosely  drawn,  which  had  been  adopted  by  popular  vote. 
It  professed  to  create  a provisional  government  for  Oregon  until  such 
time  as  the  United  States  should  take  the  country  under  its  jurisdiction. 
The  frame  of  government  embraced  an  executive  committee  of  three, 
a legislative  committee  of  nine,  and  several  justices,  constables,  a 
sheriff,  recorder,  etc.  To  support  this  somewhat  pretentious  system 
resort  was  had  to  the  fatuous  expedient  of  a popular  subscription.  The 
executive  committee  was  as  ineffectual  as  such  committees  usually  are, 
and  the  judiciary  was  peculiarly  ill  adapted  to  its  work.  Moreover, 
the  Methodist  mission,  whose  agents  had  engineered  the  provisional 
government  movement,  granted  to  itself  an  entire  township  of  land, 
giving  a like  amount  to  the  Catholic  mission,  a move  which  many  felt 
was  wholly  political  and  which  engendered  much  opposition. 

When  the  great  body  of  new  immigrants  arrived  in  the  following 
winter,  the  effect  was  to  subordinate  the  missionary  party,  as  well  as 
the  fur  company.  In  the  next  election  the  pioneers  secured  control 
of  affairs  and  proceeded  at  once,  by  their  legislative  committee,  to 
reorganize  the  government.  The  three  headed  executive  was  abolished 
and  a “governor”  substituted,  a legislature  of  thirteen  members  was 
created,  and  the  judiciary  was  reformed.  The  committee  also  struck  9 
blow  at  their  missionary  predecessors  by  restoring  to  individual  entry 
the  two  townships  of  land  appropriated  by  the  two  missions.  Finally, 
they  adopted  a simple  but  effective  method  of  raising  money  by  virtual 
taxation. 

While  the  character  of  this  legislation  was  undeniably  wholesome,  the 


10 


committee  showed  a surprising  lack  of  orderliness  and  foresight  in  the 
mode  of  its  enactment.  They  practically  ignored  the  existence  of  a 
constitution,  treating  the  organic  laws  adopted  by  the  people  the  year 
before  as  mere  statutes,  subject  to  unlimited  amendment  or  to  abolition 
by  a body  which,  though  actually  deriving  its  existence  from  them, 
assumed  thus  to  stand  outside  of  and  above  the  laws.  Nor  did  the  com- 
mittee submit  their  acts  to  the  people,  who  alone  had  the  power  to 
legitimize  them,  but  on  their  own  motion  declared  them  to  be  in  effect 
throughout  that  part  of  Oregon  south  of  the  Columbia.  Since  the 
organic  laws  had  applied  to  the  whole  of  Oregon,  it  could  be  plausibly 
charged  against  the  committee  that  in  addition  to  their  other  high  handed 
acts,  they  had  also  sought  to  limit  the  American  territorial  claims. 

Testimony  varies  as  to  the  effect  of  this  revolution  upon  the  country. 
Perhaps  the  danger  of  “anarchy  and  internicene  war”  was  not  so  immi- 
nent as  Applegate  at  a later  time  supposed  it  to  have  been,  yet,  between 
the  positive  and  the  negative  acts  of  the  committee,  many  thoughtful 
persons  felt  that  the  people  had  been  greviously  wronged.  The  upshot 
of  the  agitation  was  another  reorganization  which  brought  order  and 
political  prosperity  to  the  distracted  colony.  In  this  final  readjustment 
the  guiding  hand  was  that  of  Jesse  Applegate. 

Applegate  allowed  himself  to  be  chosen,  by  the  people  of  Yamhill,  a 
member  of  the  legislature  of  1845.  He  entered  the  session  with  a 
complete  program  of  reform  which  he  was  able  to  carry  out  to  the  letter. 
“My  intention  was,”  he  wrote  at  a later  time,  “to  reassert  the  right  of  the 
United  States  to  the  whole  of  Oregon,  which  the  legislature  of  1844  had 
limited  to  the  south  bank  of  the  Columbia — and  to  secure  the  peace  of 
the  country  by  binding  the  whole  white  population  in  a compact  to  main- 
tain it.” 

His  point  of  departure  was  the  organic  laws  of  1843.  These  he  revised 
and  improved,  producing  a document  which  in  form  and  substance 
was  a true  constitution.  He  then  asked  the  people  to  choose  between 
the  old  organic  laws  and  the  new,  copies  of  both,  written  laboriously 
by  hand,  being  read  to  them  at  the  polling  places.  By  an  overwhelming 
majority  they  chose  the  revision,  thereby  indicating  complete  satisfac- 
tion with  the  legislature’s  work.  A new  lease  of  power  was  also  voted 
to  the  officers  chosen  in  June. 

Applegate’s  program  having  triumphed  so  signally  among  the  Amer- 
icans south  of  the  Columbia,  he  proceeded  to  the  more  delicate  task 
of  securing  for  it  the  endorsement  of  the  British  residents  north  of 
the  river.  For  this  purpose  he  became  the  diplomatic  agent  of  the 
Oregon  government  to  negotiate  an  arrangement  with  McLoughlin  of 
the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company.  McLoughlin  at  first  repelled  the  idea  of 
British  subjects  becoming  parties  to  an  American  government;  but 
Applegate  had  prepared  the  way  for  union  so  skillfully,  he  urged  his 
reasons  with  such  convincing  force,  and  was  so  fair  in  his  treatment  of 
the  company’s  interests,  his  personality  commanded  such  unlimited  respect, 
that  gradually  every  obstacle  was  removed.  The  officers  of  the  com- 
pany formally  gave  in  their  adherence  to  the  provisional  government, 
agreeing  to  accept  its  jurisdiction,  to  pay  certain  taxes  for  its  support, 
and  in  all  respects  to  abide  by  its  laws.  This  brought  to  an  end  the  dual 
jurisdiction  which  had  subsisted  for  several  years,  and  incidentally 
demonstrated  to  the  world  that  the  much  mooted  occupation  of  Oregon 
by  Americans  was  a fact  accomplished.  The  effect  upon  the  British 
government  may  be  inferred  from  the  words  of  one  of  its  special  agents, 
Lieut.  Henry  Warre,  who  had  been  sent  to  report  on  conditions  in  Oregon 
and  who  reached  Fort  Vancouver  a few  days  after  this  diplomatic 
episode  was  closed.  “The  Hudson’s  Bay  Company,”  he  wrote,  “were  so 
completely  overruled  by  the  number  of  Americans  that  they  were  obliged 
to  join  in  this  compact  which  neutralized  their  authority  in  the 
country  * 


11 


Applegate’s  significant  work  of  reorganization  was  now  completed, 
and  the  government  he  put  in  operation  remained  in  force  till  March, 
1849,  when  Oregon  was  proclaimed  a territory  of  the  United  States. 
In  all  that  time  it  commanded  universal  respect,  secured  equal  justice, 
and  promoted  the  prosperity  of  the  colony.  The  people  had  gained  full 
control  of  affairs,  and  special  interests  had  to  comply  with  laws  passed 
for  the  general  good.  “Both  the  Methodist  mission  and  the  Hudson’s 
Bay  Company  ceased  to  be  political  powers  either  to  be  feared  or  courted 
in  the  colony,  and  to  the  end  of  its  existence  the  Provisional  government 
of  Oregon  attained  all  the  ends  of  good  government.” 

The  verdict  of  history  on  the  Oregon  provisional  government,  is 
identical  with  the  judgment  expressed  by  Applegate  himself  in  the 
words  just  quoted.  Yet,  so  imperfectly  has  the  work  of  1845  been 
differentiated,  in  the  popular  mind,  from  earlier  and  tentative  essays  at 
political  organization,  that  Applegate’s  right  to  be  honored  as  the  true 
founder  of  Oregon’s  pioneer  government  is,  by  the  present  generation, 
commonly  ignored. 

In  the  beginning  it  was  not  so.  Oregonians  of  that  day  gladly 
acknowledged  him  as  the  sage  and  law-giver  of  the  colony,  while  British 
visitors  to  the  Northwest  coast  instinctively  recognized  his  leadership. 
Lieutenant  Warre  and  his  associate,  Lieutenant  Vavasour,  paid  their 
respects  to  this  extraordinary  American  frontiersman;  and  Lieutenant 
Peel,  son  of  the  then  premier  of  Great  Britain,  visited  him  at  his  farm, 
enjoyed  the  simple  bounties  of  his  table,  and  discoursed  with  him  con- 
cerning the  qualities  of  the  men  who  would  cross  a continent  in  order 
to  make  homes  in  the  Oregon  wilderness.  Dr.  McLoughlin’s  letters  to 
the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company  in  London  afford  a complete  proof  of 
Applegate’s  superior  agency  in  securing  the  company’s  adherence  to 
the  provisional  government. 

The  record  of  the  sessions  of  1845  is  preserved,  with  those  of  earlier 
and  later  proceedings,  in  the  manuscript  archives  relative  to  the  pro- 
visional government.  To  the  student  who  will  scan  patiently  the  docu- 
ments in  that  mass  of  unarranged  material — reading  over  resolutions, 
laws,  memorials  to  congress,  and  constitutions — so  many  of  which  are 
in  Applegate’s  handwriting,  his  legislative  pre-eminence  in  this  age  of 
beginnings  will  stand  revealed.  Such  a study  cannot  fail  to  engender  a 
feeling  of  profound  respect  for  the  pioneer  statesmana  who,  under  the  con- 
ditions, was  able  to  lay  such  true  foundations  for  America’s  first  common- 
wealth on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

Applegate’s  later  career  was  almost  wholly  that  of  a private  citizen. 
In  1857  he  represented  his  Southern  Oregon  constituency  in  the  con- 
vention which  framed  the  State  constitution  but,  owing  to  a serious 
objection  to  the  policies  of  those  who  controlled  that  body,  he  refused 
to  remain  till  the  convention  completed  its  labors.  For  this  he  has 
been  much  criticised.  The  incident  seems  to  illustrate  some  of  his 
shortcomings  as  a public  man — he  lacked  that  sense  of  humor  which 
characterizes  the  “good  loser”  and  he  had  an  almost  Jacksonian  dis- 
inclination to  follow  another’s  lead. 

After  the  beginning  of  the  gold  rush  to  California  Applegate,  in 
1849,  had  removed  his  family  to  the  Umpqua  Valley  and  settled  at  a 
place  which  he  named  Yoncalla  on  the  Oregon-California  trail.  There, 
under  the  shadow  of  the  mountains,  he  tilled  his  fields  and  cared  for 
extensive  herds  of  cattle  reared  for  the  California  market.  There  he 
built  his  great  house,  a kind  of  latter-day  Shirley  or  Westover,  where 
for  many  years  he  dispensed  a generous  and  equal  hospitality-  to  visitors 
of  all  grades  of  social  merit.  Today  it  might  be  a rude  woodsman 
wanting  fodder  for  his  cattle,  shelter  and  food  for  himself;  tomorrow 
a polished  jurist  or  publicist  eager  for  the  sage  discourse  for  which  the 
host  was  famed.  Occasionally  he  entertained  men  of  national  distinction, 


12 


as  in  the  fall  of  1865  when  Schuyler  Colfax  and  Samuel  Bowles  alighted 
one  morning  from  the  California  stage  to  breakfast  with  him. 

From  his  frontier  retreat  at  Yoncalla  Jesse  Applegate  looked  out 
upon  the  world  of  politics  with  the  pathetic  interest  of  one  whom  nature 
has  designed  for  leadership  and  fate  condemned  to  a humdrum  existence. 
Not  being  in  a position  to  direct  public  affairs,  he  scrutinized  sharply  the 
conduct  of  those  who  were,  and  always  assumed  a direct  personal 
responsibility  for  the  doings  of  those  he  had  helped  to  place  in  office. 
His  opinions  on  public  questions,  always  luminous  and  finely  wrought, 
if  sometimes  suggestive  of  the  closet  rather  than  the  council,  were 
impressed  upon  his  fellows  through  hundreds  of  letters  to  friends  or 
public  men,  through  political  platforms,  legislative  bills  and  newspaper 
articles.  The  investigator  rarely  finds  in  the  spontaneous  written  utter- 
ances of  public  men  such  vitality  of  thought  or  such  blended  vigor  and 
felicity  of  expression  as  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  everyday  familiar 
letters  of  this  extraordinary  pioneer.  They  reveal  a character  not  un- 
marred with  idiosyncrasies,  not  free  from  pecadilloes  or  even  serious 
faults,  yet  upright  and  generous,  with  broad  sympathies  and  a sensitive 
regard  for  social  justice.  He  was  an  unselfish,  sacrificing,  public  spirited 
citizen. 

Applegate  was  a member  of  the  government  commission  appointed  to 
settle  the  treaty  claims  of  the  Hudson’s  Bay  Company  and  the  affiliated 
Puget  Sound  Agricultural  Company.  In  this  connection  he  prepared  a 
voluminous  report  which  is  in  the  nature  of  a closely  reasoned  legal 
brief.  It  illustrates  his  justice  to  opponents,  his  scrupulous  regard  for 
the  public  welfare,  and  his  extraordinary  grasp  of  the  principles  of 
equity  which  the  case  involved.  He  always  flattered  himself  that  through 
this  report  he  had  saved  the  American  government  a large  sum  of 
money. 

In  1865  Applegate  wrote  at  the  request  of  Schuyler  Colfax  a series 
of  letters  on  the  then  paramount  problem  of  reconstruction.  They  were 
printed  in  the  Oregon  State  Journal,  published  at  Eugene,  and  also  sent 
to  Mr.  Colfax.  These  letters,  constituting  a treatise,  are  cast  in  a pleas- 
ing literary  mold,  and,  although  somewhat  disappointing  from  their 
impracticable  recommendations  and  their  innocence  of  research,  they 
will  not  fail  to  charm  the  reader  who  appreciates  original  thinking 
on  political  questions  or  a unique  restatement  of  time-worn  principles. 
His  views  on  the  race  question,  on  negro  enfranchisement,  and  the  general 
diffusion  of  political  power  are  highly  suggestive.  His  theory  that  the 
right  of  suffrage  should  be  regulated  by  the  nation  on  a uniform  basis 
was  logically  consistent  but  it  was  destined  to  make  little  impression 
upon  the  reconstruction  committee  of  congress. 

Samuel  Bowles,  who  possibly  as  an  eastern  man  was  unprepared 
for  such  a phenomenon,  marvelled  to  find  a political  sage  in  the  Umpqua 
forests  and  wrote  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  people  of  Oregon  ought  to 
send  Jesse  Applegate  to  the  United  States  Senate.  Applegate,  however, 
had  none  of  the  politician’s  arts  and  his  frontier  individualism  was  of 
that  militant  cast  which  rather  repelled  than  encouraged  the  assistance 
of  friends  who  sought  his  elevation  to  high  office.  Once,  it  is  said, 
he  could  have  had  a senatorship  at  the  behest  of  the  reigning  “boss” 
and  in  declining  to  receive  it  on  such  terms  he  honored  his  manhood 
more  than  any  office  could  honor  it. 

Jesse  Applegate  died  in  1888,  having  suffered  during  life’s  final 
span  crushing  reverses  and  bitter  sorrows.  His  bones  rest  under  a lone 
fir  tree  on  a gentle  slope  of  Mt.  Yoncalla,  a plain  slab  of  native  sand- 
stone marking  the  grave.  The  lusty  commonwealth  nurtured  to  vigor 
by  his  fostering  hand  would  honor  itself  and  win  the  blessing  of  rever- 
ence well  bestowed  by  erecting  on  that  spot  or  elsewhere  a suitable 
memorial  to  this  prince  among  Oregon  pioneers. 

— Joseph  Schafer. 


13 


